Hazardous waste facilities are used for, among other things, temporary and permanent storage of hazardous waste materials. These storage facilities are often of a permanent construction and do not afford the advantages associated with portable storage facilities.
Hazardous waste materials may be liquids, solids or gases and are often easily combustible. Accordingly, adequate ventilation must be provided to eliminate the possibility of combustion and to prevent a person working in the storage area from being overcome by fumes. Regulations have been developed which require storage facilities for combustable materials to be ventilated such that air is circulated in the storage facility and captured at a height no greater than 12 inches from the floor and exhausted therefrom.
Conversely, hazardous waste storage regulations have been developed which require storage facilities to have an impregnable periphery enclosing the stored material and designed to hold at least ten percent of the capacity of the material stored in the facility. Often, such an impregnable periphery has a height greater than 12 inches and therefore eliminates the possibility of utilizing a direct air exhaust port as a method of complying with the ventilation regulations.
Hazardous waste storage facilities of the prior art often are built on solid foundations such as concrete and thus are permanent fixtures. Such facilities are not desirable since circumstances may arise such as change in traffic flow, population density, and property values which would make it desirable to have a hazardous waste storage facility which could be easily picked up and transported to another location. Furthermore, since these facilities are permanent fixtures, they do not qualify for the tax advantages associated with portable equipment.